Crab with Tamarind and Chili (Cua Rang Me)

Recently, my publisher Tuttle Publishing sent me a copy of their new cookbook called Little Vietnam by Nhut Huynh. I like the cookbook because I would actually use it. Some cookbooks are meant for reading, some for browsing and flipping through, while some are packed with recipes that I can see myself cooking from. This is the latter.

This crab with tamarind and chili immediately caught my attention. The reasons are simple: I am a huge fan of crab (click here to check out all my crab recipes) and the recipe looks absolutely mouthwatering and delicious. As the Dungeness crab season starts in November, this is the crab recipe that I am definitely going to try soon.

As the headnote suggests, it is essential to use live crab which I can’t agree more. All the crab recipes that I have featured on Rasa Malaysia call for live crab, but if you can’t find it where you are, you will have to make do with frozen crabs, but the taste and texture are not the same.

Many home cooks—despite their love for crab—almost never attempt to cook crab at home because it is intimidating to handle a live crab. This is actually quite a misconception because many Asian stores would cut up and clean the crab for you, so all you have to do is cook the crab. Even back home in Malaysia, if you ask the fish monger to clean the crab for you, they would always do that. If you do need to clean and chop up the crab yourself, this recipe offers clear step-by-step picture guide how to prepare live crab. Click here to view the steps.

This crab with tamarind and chili recipe originated from coastal Vietnam. The best way to devour the crab is to eat with your hands. Extract all the sweet crab meat from the shells, legs and claws, and lick up the delicious sauce. Bon appetit!

I love love love seafood too. Especially those of the shell variety. I was speaking to a friend recently and he remarked that it’s too much work to get that itty bitty piece of meat out. But for me, that’s 3/4 of the fun in having seafood, right? Getting your fingers and digging into it. We would mop up all the remaining sauce and juices with a slice of mantou or bread. Speaking of which, it’s been too long since I’ve had crab.

I have never cooked crab myself and the only way to enjoy crab for me is the chili crab Singaporean style of Indonesian padang style. This crab dish is just so beautiful, so I will make an exception. :D

I have tried a few recipes from the cookbook including the crab recipe and they turned out really well. I agree that it’s one of those cookbooks with recipes that you want to eat and see yourself cooking for the family.